


Hiding in the Woods

by Cyborgtamaki



Category: Death Note
Genre: Childhood Friends, I guess it counts as angst, Other, Wammy's Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 15:39:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9079009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyborgtamaki/pseuds/Cyborgtamaki
Summary: Mello's always gotten into fights. Matt's always known where to find him.





	

Mello ducked from the punch. His face was already bruised enough for the day. B growled as Mello moved under his arm and ran for the common room door. He managed to make it outside before he heard B yelling behind him. He fled for the woods. It was always dark in there, not even B could find him. He ran until he heard the footsteps behind him fade. His run slowed to a jog and then to a walk as he reached his tree. He clambered up the branches quickly, finding the first aid kit that he kept up there for fights like this. He pulled out the antiseptic wipes and cleaned his split knuckles. 

There was a rusting in the branches below him. He froze. A red head popped out from in between the leaves. Yellow googles were over his eyes, the strap as tight he could get it so they would stay on. His striped shirt was stained with grass.

“Mells! I knew you were here. I could hear B yelling all the way from our room. He’s really mad at you. What did you do to him this time?” Matt clambered up to Mello’s branch, making it sway dangerously. 

“Told him he could never be like L.” Mello winced a little as Matt took the wipes and started cleaning Mello’s face free of blood. 

“You’re always picking fights with him. You’re never gonna win. It is very brave though. You gotta be one of the bravest people I know.” Mat was grinning in his childish way. He always spoke too fast, always had too much energy. Mello liked it, most of the time. Matt would talk for him, and that always stopped getting Mello in fights. It was when Matt wasn’t around that Mello got in trouble. 

Mello smiled slightly. “I’m not. L is. I’ll never be as brave as him.”

“Lies,” Matt replied stubbornly. “You could brave circles around him.” He packed up the first aid kit and put it back in its place in the trunk of the tree. Matt dropped down from the tree. He looked up at Mello, waiting for him to follow. Mello climbed down carefully. “C’mon.” Matt grabbed Mello’s uninjured hand and ran with him out of the woods, back to Wammy’s.

* * *

B left a few years after that, when the two boys were ten. Mello didn’t have anyone to fight with anymore. No one older than him took his bait. He picked on some of the younger kids at first. Matt didn’t talk to him for a week after that. He didn’t pick on a younger kid ever again. His friendship with Near deteriorated into rivalry. Matt couldn’t stop Mello’s snide remarks, or his occasional prank. Now when Mello got in fist fights, it was with the boys who passed Wammy’s on the way home from school. He would come home every week battered and bruised. Everyone stopped caring, except Matt. Matt would find him in his tree each time. Matt would clean him up and take him back to Wammy’s.

Mello liked this. Matt didn’t scold him like Roger, or frown disappointedly like Watari. He didn’t tut like L or ask incessant questions like Near. Matt just took him back to their room, gave him a bar of chocolate, and left him to sleep. He would sit on the bed next to Mello and play his video games, looking almost like a sentry.

* * *

Matt was scared of what would happen to Mello once he found out the news. He hadn’t taken the news of B’s disappearance well, there was no way he would be able to handle L’s death. He would work himself to death, trying to replace him. Matt wondered how badly he would get beaten up this time, and the next time, and the next. Age hadn’t made Mello calmer. If anything, getting older made him more aggressive. He was a lit fuse, about to explode any second. Matt didn’t know how to hold him back, how to calm him down. He was scared of Mello’s reaction. Mello was a volcano waiting to explode. And Matt had a feeling the wait was nearly over.

* * *

A day had passed. Matt hadn’t seen Mello since Roger told them the news. He’d asked around the orphanage, no one had. Roger said he walked out as soon as he heard the news. Matt wasn’t worried exactly, he knew Mello had probably run off to the woods. He was going to go after him but Near told him to leave it. He said Mello needed to be alone. So Matt waited on his bed, playing his video games.

* * *

Two days had passed. Mello hadn’t come home that night. Matt wanted to go look for him but Roger forced him to stay in. He had to study for a retest he didn’t want to do. Matt couldn’t concentrate. He stared out the window, looking for a glimpse of Mello.

* * *

 

Three days had passed. Matt forced Near to go out into the woods with him. They spent all day searching. They climbed every tree twice, looked under every twig and leaf for clues. At dusk, Roger came out to get them. He dragged Matt back to the orphanage, Near following behind slowly. Matt didn’t sleep in his own bed that night. He climbed into Mello’s, hearing the crinkle of foil under the pillow. He pulled out a half eaten chocolate bar from under it. Mello hadn’t finished it off. Matt broke off a small piece, nibbling it slowly. Mello would never go to the woods without his chocolate bar. Matt left the bar on the bedside table and buried his face in Mello’s pillow. It smelled like him, chocolate and tears, blood and spices. He fell asleep slowly, bone tired from his long day of scouring the woods.

* * *

Four days had passed. It was the first day Matt thought to look through Mello’s drawers. His clothes were gone. So was the sock filled with the money they had scraped together from the back of couches and checking pockets on laundry duty. Matt sat back against the bed. Mello was gone. Truly, absolutely gone. Mello would never come back. He was too stubborn. Matt didn’t know what to do. He was alone. Just like he was before he came to Wammy’s. Just like he knew he would be afterwards.

So Matt curled up on the bed, burying himself into the smell of his best friend. He lay there for days. Roger brought him his meals but they stayed, uneaten and cold, outside his door. Matt’s tears soaked the covers as the smell of Mello slowly faded. After a week he emerged. But he never talked like he had before. His childish grin never returned. Mello always thought Matt was the one who helped him, but he never knew how much he helped Matt.


End file.
